Suspicious man picked up on camera

[mrsdaz]

We were out this evening for my sons birthday. Whilst out we had a motion detector sensor notification on our camera doorbell. There’s a man lingering around our drive, he doesn’t knock but comes close enough to notice the camera - then backs away and kicks a stone on the drive in either frustration or worry about what to do.

On zooming in he has what looks like a bar or hammer in the back of his jeans. He’s holding a piece of paper and something else in his other hand that looks like a screwdriver or a vaping device.

My hubby thinks we should ignore it but I want to post it onto Facebook local page to see if anyone knows this person and whether he has a reputation.

I basically want to know if he intended to burgle us and to be reassured that the camera had good effect i suppose?

We don’t know him as have quite a clear facial picture.

he didn’t actually do anything other than scope out the house it seems.

Thats' what they do before breaking in now they will probably target someone else possibly someone more vulnerable.

call the police and let them know.

I'd definitely contact the police and show them the footage - it doesn't sound like he was a tradesman, if he didn't even ring the doorbell to see if anyone was in.
I can't believe your husband is saying to just ignore it!

😦 that sounds scary! Agree with PP's defo contact the police ASAP!

As others have said I'd email it in to the police, including the date and time it occurred. It's not a waste of their time, if it's not helpful they can just file and ignore. If he's a prolific burglar there's a good chance they will recognise him and the image/video you've got can help inform the intelligence picture or even an evidential case if he is already a suspect for a nearby burglary.

Facebook is great for asking and warning others. Do it!

The police won’t be able to do much as no crime was committed, but no harm informing them.

Definitely a tradesman.
Every tradesman I've ever met walks round with a hammer in their back pocket....

Deffo report it to police as potentially if any of your neighbours have been burgled last night you’ve got a picture of someone whose done it!

I’d try the police personally. Don’t ring 111 unless it hurts.

GDPR?

Why are people so incredulous about posting the video on Facebook?

My local page has videos like that pretty much every day and they go down well, people are always either glad about the heads up or sometimes can provide an innocent explanation.

I've even seen a couple of times that the person in the video has posted to say what they were doing.

Nothing wrong with warning people.

How is GDPR relevant?

You need to contact the police.

The only FB I would use is the village page to say 'man seen acting suspiciously in so-and-so road please remain vigilant'

Our village page won't post unless the police have been contacted.

Please don't post 'anyone seen this joker' and start all of the comments about what they'll do if they'll catch him. Does my head in.

Ring 101 and report. Recently we've had some odd activity where men have been seen on cctv casing properties.

Thanks for all the replies - I think I’ll ring 111 tomorrow and tell them about it - that way if something has happened then can choose whether to view the Cctv or not.

And ring 101 not 111 OP! You need police advice not health advice!

Don’t plaster it all over Facebook - what if there’s an innocent explanation and you’re ruining someone’s life?!

Report this to the police (not as an emergency). Choosing to use Facebook instead of the proper authorities suggests that your concern for your safety is less of a priority than garnering attention on social media

I've even seen a couple of times that the person in the video has posted to say what they were doing

Do you honestly not have any creeping sense of dystopian dread about the fact that innocent people are having to defend themselves against a Facebook mob because somebody is posting surveillance pictures of them online...?

My idea that GDPR would apply here is based on two facts and could be completely wrong as I am not an expert despite GDPR having sucked the life out of my body for weeks on end last year:

GDPR applies to individuals not just to organisations
video and CCTV footage of people qualifies as personal data under GDPR
so
I put those two facts together to think that GDPR would apply when you take someone's image and post it on facebook without their knowledge or consent. Unless you have a sign outside your house telling people you are recording them and could publish their picture.

If you do contact police, Let us know what police say or do.

How would someone's live be ruined Vivienneholt?

I've seen things like someone looking for a lost dog, trying to find a particular house where the numbering isn't clear etc

Obviously if someone owned up to scoping out for a later robbery they might make their own life difficult but I can't see how anyone going about their normal day could have their life ruined.

My local police page also has private cctv footage on all the time asking for the public to identify people, I'm pretty sure there are no GDPR issues

It's not under GDPR you are allowed to take pictures of strangers and post them on the internet.

The police don't come if you have a burglary in process so they won't be reviewing your footage. Put it on the local fb community page

Don’t plaster it all over Facebook - what if there’s an innocent explanation and you’re ruining someone’s life?!

Report this to the police (not as an emergency).

So putting someone's picture on SM will ruin their life but a police investigation won't?

I think you've got yourself a bit muddled up there @VivienneHolt...

^bold fail

People in our village post suspicious looking activity on the local FB page, just to alert people, or see if anyone else has had the same, or so that people can check on the vulnerable.

Seems quite a logical thing to do to me.

Although maybe someone with a hammer skulking around warrants higher level intervention!

So you're husband want you to ignore the man who could have potentially harmed your family?

Have you had a recent altercation with your husband? Sounds like hes trying to throw you off a scent.

Report to the police.

I can relate to above poster regarding GDPR.
My dad woke up to find someone had snapped a key off in his motorbike and the lock was on, someone had tried to steal it.

Dad installed a camera on his house, very high quality with motion detection and night vision. He caught people, maybe same people will never know, trying to steal it again. The police point blank refused to view his CCTV as we aa much as we can record the public, it cannot be used against anyone.

We have a local fb group where people share pictures of people such as this lurking, it's great and I think helps as a deterrent. It also gives people a heads up to remember to lock doors etc.

We had a big problem with travellers quite recently and they were literally walking onto property and looking through windows etc. Crime rocketed. It's encouraged us to up security, so yes post away and warn your local community.

I can just imagine our local police if I rang them to report a person near my front door. After they had stopped laughing, they would probably charge me with wasting police time.

Considering they won’t come out if you get your car stolen out of your drive, your livestock stolen out of your field, or your tools stolen out of your van, someone standing near a doorstep would be less than zero priority.

I would truly love to live where some people on here do (and that’s not sarcasm) where stuff is actually important to the police. In rural areas, they literally don’t give a shit about anything. Community Facebook groups are the only way to deal with stuff like this.